tedthomasson

The Model and the Marriage Broker was one of those delightful light comedies that Twentieth Century Fox (and Columbia) did so well in the early '50s. It was released here in Australia as a supporting feature. I saw it then and it's never been seen here since then, sadly, so I'm relying on memory. It's hard to imagine anyone else but Thelma Ritter as the matchmaker, Jeanne Crain was gorgeous and suitably aloof as the model, and Scott Brady was just right as the wolf. George Cukor's direction was flawless: handling sensitive issues without becoming mawkish or cruel, and totally un-self-conscious. It ranks equally with his 'The Marrying Kind' and slightly above his 'It Should Happen to You' (aka 'A Name For Herself'), both made with Judy Holliday at Columbia about the same time. I still remember the classic line delivered by Thelma (as only she could) when she tries to persuade a sad-sack male client to take an interest in the plain-Jane character played by Nancy Kulp: "She's a real live-wire - low voltage, but steady."

I first saw this when it was screened as a supporting feature in Australia in 1951/52 and hasn't been seen here since. A pity, because it was rather more cerebral and realistic than almost anything else seen in that era. I was only 14 when I saw it so I can't remember much about the plot but its realism came through (I was a pretty savvy kid movie-wise, I must admit). I could only remember Lloyd Bridges until I looked it up just now and was surprised to see who else was in it: Anne Francis, Ernest Borgnine, Carleton Carpenter, Murray Hamilton etc, before they became known. I'm also a little surprised director Robert Siodmak didn't run into strife with the McCarthy hearings in those years as it seemed to me the movie could be seen as a tad leftish, but I may be wrong as I was too young to understand that at the time, and this was not an issue in Australia then. Anyway, the semi-documentary treatment and the (apparent} filming on location added to the straightforward treatment. Columbia made some interesting movies around that time, some that I would suggest are a high-water mark in American movie-making and should be seen more often. If it's as good as I remember it, it should be seen as a minor classic.